The present invention relates generally to strollers, and more particularly, is directed to a stroller which folds into a compact arrangement.
Strollers are known which include a pair of spaced apart side frame halves connected to each other by rigid bars, each half having a main side tube and a rear side tube pivotally connected to the main side tube at an intermediate portion thereof. Each main side tube includes a lower tube portion that is pivotally mounted at its upper end to the lower end of an upper tube portion thereof by means of a conventional locking pivot assembly. The upper ends of the rear side tubes are pivotally connected to a lower section of the upper tube portions.
Hook shaped handles are fixed to the upper free ends of the upper tube portions. The free lower ends of the lower tube portions carry the front wheels of the stroller, while the free lower ends of the rear side tubes carry the rear wheels of the stroller.
Each locking pivot assembly locks a lower tube portion to an upper tube portion, and provides release thereof to allow the upper tube portion to pivot rearwardly with respect to the lower tube portion such that the handles fold over the rear wheels of the stroller.
The above arrangement is known, for example, from strollers sold by Century Products Co. under the mark "TRAVELITE" and those sold by Graco Products Co. under the mark "LITERIDER".
However, a problem with such strollers is that the width of the stroller remains constant at all times, that is, in the open configuration and the folded configuration. This is because the side frame halves are connected to each in the widthwise direction by rigid bars which define the width of the stroller. As a result, the stroller cannot be folded into a very compact configuration.
Although umbrella strollers are known which fold in the lengthwise and widthwise directions, the arrangement is not satisfactory. Specifically, with conventional umbrella strollers, there is a lower scissor frame that interconnects the lower ends of the lower tube portions of the main side tubes with the lower ends of the rear side tubes, at positions immediately above the front and rear wheels.
With such umbrella strollers, unlike the aforementioned arrangement, the upper tube portions pivot forwardly with respect to the lower tube portions such that the handles fold over the front wheels of the stroller, and the rear wheels are provided on the opposite side of the folded stroller. When the lower scissor frame folds inwardly in the widthwise direction of the stroller to reduce its widthwise dimension, it necessarily must increase its lengthwise direction. Thus, because of this lower scissor frame arrangement and because the wheels are on opposite sides of the stroller, the length of the folded stroller is much greater than that of the aforementioned stroller.